Dresden Grey is 28 months old!

I know I don't do the regular "monthly birthday" posts anymore, but Dresden is such a different little boy these days I want to record some things here for keeps. Another significance of his turning 28 months old on the 2nd of this month is that 3 years ago today, I found out I was pregnant with him. I love that I found out about him on the 2nd, that my baby shower was on the 2nd of May, and that he was born on the 2nd. Mostly because I'm a sentimental sap and I find meaning in the most trivial of details :-) I think the story of how I found out I was pregnant with him is kind of funny. Sam was going to come over for a wine/movie night because Alex was out of town, but I had a weird feeling, so on a whim, AFTER buying three bottles of wine (so we'd have options, not because we'd have drunk ALL three, pssht!), I ran into the Target next store and bought a pregnancy test. I took it right away when I got home, and had to text Samantha, "Um...change of plans, turns out I'm pregnant!" I think it's so cool that that weird intuition thing made me take the test. It was also a great explanation for why I'd watched Charlotte's Web the day before and had bawled UNCONTROLLABLY for, like, an hour after Charlotte died at the end. I mean, yes, the movie/story is sad, but not as sad as I was, lol. Okay, so that was my little three-years-ago flashback; onto the little man today!

Where to start...maybe the basics. He still weighs 26/26.5 pounds - such a skinny boy. I think he's just always going to be, until maybe puberty. His little potbelly is just big enough though that 2T pants fit him without being too big, and they are long enough that they aren't high-waters, so that's a good thing. We sort of paused the whole potty training thing after the overwhelmingness of August, well, overwhelmed me. And he hasn't asked about using the toilet again, though he did sit on it today, but to no avail. I'm really not into rushing it. I kind of feel like changing his diapers keeps him my baby for just a little bit longer. Is that weird? We will definitely pick back up and be well on our way by the time he's 3, but I'm not in a huge rush.

He may not be potty trained, but he IS in his "big-boy bed" exclusively, and it has been a dream. I literally just knocked on the wooden table where I'm sitting as I typed that so as not to jinx it - seriously, I stopped typing and knocked. He LOVES his bed and will often tell you "GET OFF my big boy bed!" when you are sitting on it with him. I think it's so cute that he's possessive of it, and that's just fine by me! The first night he slept there, I told him as I was tucking him in that when he woke up in the morning just to call for me, and I would come be with him, just like he did in his crib. Sure enough, at 7:30 a.m. on the dot, I heard the dramatic, loud "Maaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmaaaaaa" call from his room, and there he was, sitting up waiting for me! It was so cute. He goes to sleep anywhere between 8:30 and 9:00 (thank GOD it's getting dark at 7:45 again!), and wakes up anywhere between 7:00 and 8:00 (though usually much closer to 7). I will admit that it has been a bittersweet transition for me, just one more sign of the little boy taking over for the baby he used to be. He has done great, I am so proud of him.

He loves to help do tasks, which is awesome. Specifically, he's become my sous chef! As you can see in the pictures, his strategic placement of individual mushrooms would make Julia Child proud, I'm sure.

He gets so focused when he has a job to do, and that is saying something for this kid who has so much energy at ALL hours of the day and never sits still. It's been such a great lesson for me, too, as it is my normal tendency to just want to do whatever I'm doing and get it over with, to have him help me and have to slow down and be deliberate with every action. His list of cooking achievements include pouring, straining, dumping and pushing the cooker's button to make quinoa, shredding lettuce and placing cucumbers and tomatoes on plates for taco salads, and helping me pour cans and stir ingredients for tortilla soup. His eyes shine, he is so proud of himself. I hope to always help him have that feeling.

It is also very, very obvious we are now the parents of a two-year-old. His mood swings rival that of the most angst-ridden teen I've ever met, and he sometimes goes on inexplicable shrieking, crying jags. He also likes to yell at us to stop doing things he doesn't want us to be doing, and conversely, yelling to make us do things he wants us to do. It's not his winningest trait right now, but it's clear that it's a symptom of him testing his boundaries and trying to assert his will. Sadly, most of the time it's just really hard not to bust out laughing at him because of how dramatic he is. We have started instituting more time outs or promises of time outs, which he doesn't like, so he usually stops doing whatever it is he's not supposed to when we mention it. I have to be careful though; the other day I said "time out!" because I wanted us to pause what we were doing and he got SO flustered and said "NO! I don't want a time out!" when that wasn't what I meant at all, hahaha. Poor, literal little guy.

He loves animals, specifically reptiles of all kinds, and their ancestors, the mighty dinosaurs. He is an expert park rock-wall climber now too, which is a blessing and a curse, because while he is agile and very coordinated, it still just means to me, his mother, that he can CLIMB THINGS, which we know means he could FALL from THINGS, and that makes me SO nervous. Still, I try and encourage him with a smile on my face so I don't freak him out with my freaking out. Ah the delicate balance.

So anyway, that's Dresden Grey in a nutshell at 28-months old. I really wish there were like 50 of him because I think he's so cool. He's exhausting, but hilarious and just all-around great. I wish I could capture ALL of his cute, funny moments, press record and catch all of them. Seriously though, thank goodness for Smart phones with great video cameras, right?!?

Love,

Cassie